Monday, August 25, 2014

Fat Pets; Elevators; MUFON; Longevity; The Cloud; Poem; Women; Pete Seeger; Idea for Congress; Advertising; Spermaceti

Sunny and warm.  Plants are all smiling and happy.  Some yellow squash are getting bigger and one lonely zuke is starting to get a little larger.


"Many could forgo heavy meals, a full wardrobe, a fine house, et cetera: it is the ego they cannot forgo."  Mohandas Gandhi


01.  Is Your Pet too Fat?


The Associated Press reports that fat Labradors and Poodles now have Pilates ("pawlates") and yoga ("doga") and can play "Barko Polo" in the pool.  Morris Animal Inn has a 5-day fitness camp for dogs in Morristown, New Jersey. 


Our cat, Soo Zee will never get fat because she has Boulemia.   She eats normally, but throws it all up a few hours later.  Why?  I wish to hell I knew.  Our beige carpeting is covered with throw-up stains.


02.  *Just one of Life's Mysteries


"Why don't people talk on elevators?  To quote Joel Achenbach: "Stare at shoes. Glance at ceiling.  Study elevator button panel as though it's the Rosetta Stone.  One minute on an elevator with a stranger takes about as long as the Jurassic Period."

03.  MUFON Convention


The 2014 MUFON Symposium began on July 18, 2014 at Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  I would have liked to have attended, but that was impossible. Maybe next year.


Lots of UFO observers, researchers, authors, followers, believers, disbelievers, sneerers, abductees, artists, etc  were there...  I wish I could have gone.  The subject interests me immensely.  I've written about my experience with a UFO before.  Suffice it to say.. I am a believer.. except that I can't believe the U.S. Government could keep UFO information secret.. but I do believe some of what the observers say.  Now, with all the cell phones out there, there should be some good photos of UFO's popping up. 


04.  Live Longer!


The Harvard Medical School reports that scientists now agree on the best way to boost longevity:


Eat less Calories!


05.  Billion Dollar Idea!


Fast Company offers this idea:  "In a distinct geographic area, give large sums of money randomly to people who are exceptionally nice... You could built hype around it through covert Public Relations.  It relies on the concept of intermittent reward, which is addictive.  Call it senseless acts of kindness.'"  Think about this!


06.  Question of the Day


What if "the cloud" crashes?


07.   Think Again


Here is a poem, written by fellow Intertel member, Richard Kovac:


Freedom


We are
cartoon characters
rebelling against
the One who drew us.
The ink spills.
The blood flows.


08.  Women vs Men


Jen Nichols argues that the Biblical assertion that women were created by God for men and must submit to them is just baloney.  She reminds us though that for much of human history it has not been uncommon for menstruation to be considered the proof that women are less worthy than men in the eyes of the creator, and for the agony of childbirth to be regarded as punishment for Eve's disobedience to God.  Jen regards these conclusions as quaint, inadequate and insulting.


All mammalian life-forms (with minor exception) reproduce via live birth. "In this context, the female body is quite remarkable.. a specialized machine capable of producing completely formed, fully functioning miniatures of the most cognitively advanced life-forms on the planet."  Don't downplay its fantastic role in our wonderful world!


09.  Folk Singer Extraordinaire


I was just  reading an old obituary about Pete Seeger, who died 8 months ago at 95.  He wrote favorites like "Where have all the flowers gone?" and "Kisses Sweeter than Wine."  He also had his hand in the writing of "If I had a Hammer."  His efforts to raise money for clean up purposes, made the Hudson River a no longer polluted waterway.  And, of course, we all know that he gave a lot of assistance to civil rights causes.  RIP, Pete.


10.  Congress


Leigh Anne Jasheway sez (in Funny Paper) "Another Republican Congressman has been caught on video having extramarital relations.  I say we start an 'affair jar.'  Every time a lawmaker is caught in one, the minimum wage gets raised a nickel."  (I think that is a good idea!)


11.  Advertising Theory


An old magazine sez that the Ruthrauff and Ryan advertising agency had this philosophy: "...men and women in the mass are apt to have incredibly shallow brain-pans.  In infancy they are attracted by bright colors, glitter and noise.  And in adulthood they retain a surprisingly similar set of basic reactions." 

12.  Spermaceti


Why do we call New Bedford's favorite whale a sperm whale?  Because the early whalers found enormous amounts of white waxy material in it's snout.  The whaler's figured that it looked like another material important to human reproduction and therefore named it "the seed of a whale" or "spermaceti."  This material does not have a role to play in reproduction and is therefore misnamed.  In fact, other than that it might be used for sonar navigation, humans really do not yet know what purpose it serves.  (If my New Bedford Whaling Museum friends tell me otherwise, I will change my thinking in this regard.)


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